Retailers will remain in focus this week as the likes of Debenhams, French Connection, ASOS and Moss Bros are due to report figures.

Retailers will remain in focus this week as the likes of Debenhams, French Connection, ASOS and Moss Bros are due to report figures.

The market will be keen for reassurance over trading conditions on the high street from department store chain Debenhams tomorrow, following rival Next's warning of an “unusually quiet” August and September.

Debenhams, which reports fourth-quarter figures, has delivered robust sales growth in recent months as its recently appointed chief executive Michael Sharp leads a turnaround at the chain.

Sales rose 3.1 per cent in the 16 weeks to June 23, against 0.3 per cent in the previous half-year.

Mr Sharp, who was appointed last September, has been focusing on improving sales growth rather than margins - a strategy that has paid off, according to analysts

They are expecting sales to remain positive in the final quarter, although a weaker clothing market is set to ease growth slightly.

Fashion retailer French Connection is set to report a big half-year loss on Wednesday after revenues declined by seven per cent on a year earlier.

The group, which has borne the brunt of the high street slowdown, has already warned the result for the six months to July 31 will be £7m below last year, when it recorded an operating profit of £300,000.

Founder and chief executive Stephen Marks has called conditions the worst he has known in 40 years of trading.

Online retailer ASOS is expected to report more rampant growth in its last trading update of the financial year on Wednesday as it shrugs off the economic gloom.

The group, which targets twenty-somethings with clothes based on outfits first worn by celebrities, is forecast by broker Numis Securities to report sales growth of around 30 per cent in the June to August period, in line with the third quarter.

Menswear retailer Moss Bros will update on the roll-out of its new-look stores on Thursday as it reveals a set of steady half-year results.

The suit specialist, which has 135 stores in the UK, is forecast to report broadly flat pre-tax profits of £2.3m in the six months to the end of July.

A strong set of results from housebuilder Redrow on Wednesday are likely to be overshadowed by interest in chief executive Steve Morgan's attempt to win back control of the company he founded in 1974.

Mr Morgan, who is owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, returned to Redrow as executive chairman in a boardroom coup in 2009 and has been successful in reviving its fortunes since then.

The Flintshire-based group is forecast by brokers Panmure Gordon to report a 45 per cent jump in pre-tax profits to £36.9m in the year to the end of June.

But the housebuilder is likely to face questions over a preliminary takeover approach from Mr Morgan's Bridgemere group, which holds a 40 per cent stake in Redrow, tabled at the end of August.

The 152p a share offer, equivalent to around £562 million, is backed by another major shareholder in hedge fund Tosca.

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